Abstract
The principles involved in the production of toxin by diphtheria bacilli in artificial culture media are of great scientific and practical interest. It is quite apparent that there is no full agreement in the different biologic laboratories as to what constitutes the proper method of commercial toxin production, and experiences too often reveal the fact that much still remains unknown concerning the underlying factors. In this investigation a special study was made of the following phases of the subject.
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1. The care of stock cultures, and maintenance of virulence on artificial culture media.
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2. The preparation of a uniform culture medium which favors the normal growth of the organism and the production of potent diphtheria toxin.
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3. A comparative study of different peptic and tryptic digests as substrates for normal growth and toxin production.
Attempts were made to keep the various factors under control, because, as experiences of the writers soon showed, they are so inter-related that any variation in one very materially influences the others.
Footnotes
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↵1 This paper is based on work carried out by the senior author and presented in the doctorate thesis deposited in the Library of Yale University.
- Received March 21, 1927.
- Copyright © 1927 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc.
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